Let me announce proudly I'm back in the record business.
And it's got nothing to do with my pals Rusty and Alec.

It's all to do with having a new record player. Or if
you prefer turntable.

A few days ago a package arrived with this beautiful newred record player inside. And not just any record player,
a Pro Ject Debut Carbon DC with the Ortofon 2M Red
cartridge.

My JVC turntable died several years ago. And there was a point
where I didn't think I'd replace it. But I did miss vinyl and all it's
attributes. Sound being most important. And then there's the
artwork which you can actually see. Along with lyric sheets, that
again you can actually read if you're over forty.

I've setup the Pro Ject turntable. And now it's time to clean all
the records old and new. Yes, even the ones still sealed will get
a cleaning. More on the cleaning supplies later. Which I know
will keep you all on pins and needles in anticipation.

____________________________________________

A Positive Thread...
First and foremost I want this thread to be positive. Not about
politics or anything else that can cause grief.

I hope others will post about new vinyl purchases or what you've
listened to today. And feel free to post what type of system you're
using to playback your precious vinyl.
____________________________________________

I'd like to thank Mr. Jack White and Michael Fremer for
getting me back in the business.

I'll start posting about my new and old albums as they're played
(or cleaned - yikes). I hope you all will do the same.

I've had my ex-DJ bros vintage Technics and Toshiba turntables to play with for years but sadly his mixer was busted long ago which I used to make some sweet mixtapes with 'back in the day (when casettes ruled the world). I've managed to keep one of the direct drive turntables working (Toshiba SR255), and I also have a lower budget RCA belt driven turntable with built in pre-amp which still seems to work after dragging it by boat from Alaska several years ago. What I do with vinyl I want to listen to a lot is to transfer it direct to a CD-R with either a Lite-On DVD/audio recorder through RCA jacks, or the pro Tascam CDRW-5000 burner. Then I edit on PC in wav format with Nero if I need to remove a click or it's just a crap piece of vinyl to start with and I'm desperate. I do as little messing with as I can past cleaning the record under scrutiny.

I have some old DJ cleaner fluid with a fuzzy black padded thing on wood for cleaning, no idea where the original packaging went. Except for crap vinyl I use a mild soap and water solution just to see what it sounds like. I don't go through all this as much as I used to but I still do projects for friends.

I have hundreds of LPs and 45s, my BF has even more. I do tend toward playing the CD-R copies (with nice inserts showing the LP or 7" graphics such as they may be), but do enjoy having vinyl sessions, especially of modern Sundazed and Norton type reissues and various small label new releases like State/13 O'Clock, Acid Jazz, Market Square, Dionysus etc.

I have most Fleetwood Mac on vinyl by the way, some I've had since the 1970s. I don't have some of the Welch era or past Mirage on vinyl though. I have various solo/related things like Mick's The Visitor and agree the large liners and art are great for something important to you. I'd have to keep the 1975 LP for the great lyrics and penguin cartoons insert, and the same for the Rumours photos foldout! The quality of the Then Play On artwork and inside photo hasn't been quite all there in the two CD versions I've gotten of it so have to keep that around.

I have water that's been well boiled for drinking (I'm hyper-sensitive to chlorine) and I use that with a very tiny amount of dish soap but that's just on your cheap bargain bin records that are dirty and I might use the proper cleaning fluid later and the nicer turntable and needle. There used to be a website put together by eBay music fans called The Roadhouse that had some good stuff about cleaning vinyl, even de-warping but I've never been very successful with that.

I also used to do old 78s on a turntable of my Father's with it's special wider needle for those grooves. Only a few of them have ever shown up on offical CD. They needed a lot of cleaning and help from the PC de-clicking and de-hissing and I made two cool CD-Rs; one with blues and early rock stuff and the other with western swing, yodelling and hillbilly boogie bop type stuff. I mention it as it was a Father's Day project but I liked it as much as he did. This year I did a latter-day Carter Family compilation for him that is a bit rare.

I'm very envious of you guys who can afford record players... I've decided long ago that when I grow up I'll save money to buy one, and then I'll buy all the deluxe reissues that all these years I could see only in my dreams. Fleetwood Mac and Peter Gabriel would be the first.

My parents have a little collection of vinyls even if not royally preserved because they used to own a portable record player. We have a lot of classic Italian acts, mainly singer-songwriters, then some English acts. My mother used to have an important first edition of a Beatles album but our evil aunt stole it. It should be some thousands Euros worth now.

My bestfriend's family owns an amazing classic rock vinyl collection with all the most important albums by the most classic acts, from Led Zeppelin to Smashing Pumpkins, and they have a relatively new Player. They say that in Italy there's no way to have replacement parts and when they need a needle they have to order it from Germany.
When I gave to my bestfriend the LP of David Bowie's Station to station for her graduation, along with a bottle of sweet wine made by my father, they listened to it in their living room sipping the wine.